August 19, 1922] 



NA TURE 



241 



ton or Holland Park is conveniently situated for a 

 University quarter passes comprehension. 



It would be unfair to expect in the course of two 

 lectures a full exposition of University policy ; but 

 there appears to be some lack of consistency, possibly 

 more apparent than real, between the criticism of 

 pre-1900 higher education in London when " each 

 college made its own plans and did its own work in 

 the best way it could " and the current demand that, 

 a teaching University having at last been established, 

 certain Colleges shall be given the status of " Dominions ' ' 

 enjoying Home Rule within the University. If 

 University and King's Colleges were set up cheek by 

 jowl on the Bloomsbury site, the need for co-ordina- 

 tion" by some independent and impartial authority 

 would cry out to heaven. The Provost is on surer 

 ground in pleading for " as much concentration in 

 the University Quarter as is practicable," especially 

 in respect of " all the new post-graduate institutes," 

 and our only criticism of this proposal is that a more 

 comprehensive term than " post-graduate institutes " 

 should be used. In addition to post-graduate institutes, 

 there is need for a number of schools or institutes of a 

 specialised character, e.g. for law, music, drama, journal- 

 ism, and military science, to specify only a few sub- 

 jects for which at present provision is not made or is 

 inadequately made within the University. As an 

 instance of a post-graduate institute, the new scheme 

 for an Institute of Public Health is cited, and it is 

 gratifying to find that the demand for Collegiate Home 

 Rule is not in this case interpreted by the Provost in 

 the sense of " what we have we hold." " We have a 

 department [of Hygiene] in this College, the oldest in 

 the country, but it is inadequate to meet the needs 

 of London ; and we should be prepared to see that 

 department, and all the still smaller departments in 

 the other Colleges, merged into one great institute. 

 That is the kind of development which will be helped 

 by the concentration in Bloomsbury." 



Towards the conclusion of the lectures, the Provost 

 pleads for " the necessary spirit to pull and work 

 together " in order to substantiate the vision of a 

 great University of London which he has somewhat 

 faintly adumbrated. These wise words should not 

 be received in a derisive spirit. No one will suppose 

 that University College has attained its present great 

 prestige without a struggle, or that on certain occasions 

 its rivalry with other Colleges may not have taken a 

 combative form. The important thing to ensure, as 

 the Provost suggests, is that this rivalry, unavoidable 

 and even desirable within limits, shall be as free as 

 possible from selfishness — " particularism " is the polite 

 academic word — with the greater glory of the Univer- 

 sity always in view, magnanimous, void of envy, malice, 

 NO. 2755, VOL. I 10] 



and intrigue, and of that perverted form of academic 

 freemasonry which suspends private judgment and 

 exalts College loyalty. The alternative is constant sus- 

 picion and bitter, often unreasonable, opposition to 

 progress. 



A brief reference must be made in conclusion to Mr. 

 Fisher's speech delivered at the end of the second 

 lecture. He found himself in " full agreement with the 

 admirable doctrine contained in the address." The 

 University of London was a species by itself. 



" The Government, four years ago, made an offer 

 of the Bloomsbury Site to the University of London. 

 That offer has been accepted by the University. The 

 Government do not propose to make another offer, 

 and if the University does not like the site, well, it 

 can return it to the source from which it came. I 

 have no doubt the Chancellor of the Exchequer will 

 appreciate its generosity." 



The limit to the number of students who could be 

 educated at Oxford and Cambridge had been reached, 

 and London must be prepared to receive a great influx 

 of students, particularly 



" from the Dominions, from India, from the Crown 

 Colonies, from the United States of America, and from 

 the allied Powers of the Continent." You must con- 

 centrate in one part of London " not all the teaching 

 power, but an impressive proportion of the teaching 

 power," and that was " the principal object which the 

 Government had in view in suggesting an arrangement 

 under which King's College could be brought into 

 close proximity with University College." And as 

 last words he said : " Let those who are anxious for 

 the future of London University, from whatever angle 

 they may have hitherto viewed London University 

 problems, let them concentrate on the endeavour to 

 create upon the site a noble series of buildings, worthy 

 of the reputation of the University, worthy of its past, 

 and adequate to the great destinies which await it." 



T. Ll. II. 



Antarctic Foraminifera. 



British Museum {Natural History). British Antarctic 

 (" Terra Nova ") Expedition, 1910. Natural His- 

 tory Report. Zoology, Vol. 6, No. 2. Protozoa, 

 Part 2 : Foraminifera. By Edward Heron-Allen 

 and Arthur Earland. Pp. 25-268 + 8 plates. 

 (London : British Museum (Natural History), 

 1922.) 30s. 



STUDENTS of natural history in its wider aspects 

 will welcome the appearance of this memoir on the 

 Antarctic Foraminifera of the second Scott Expedition 

 — a notable contribution to the series of reports which 

 have resulted from the Terra Nova Expedition. The 

 authors state that the material collected during the 

 expedition was placed in their hands seven years ago, 

 and that the delay in publication has been due, not 



II 1 



